This week, From The Vault honors the ever-iconic TLC. And the timing is apt.
Yesterday marked 18 years since Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes’ passing and today is Tionne ‘T-Boz’ Watkins 50th birthday,
As such, our latest is lifted from their uber-successful sophomore album. Cue ‘Diggin’ On You.’
‘Diggin’’ was the final single to be released from the ladies’ classic ‘CrazySexyCool’ LP and was written and produced by musical genius Babyface in 1994.
After the monumental hit that was ‘Waterfalls’ (which spent 7 weeks at #1 in the US), with this cut the girls managed to score yet another Top 5 smash; their fourth consecutive. It peaked at #9 in Australia and reached the 18th position of the UK Singles Chart.
F. Gary Gray – who worked with the ladies on ‘Waterfalls’ – directed the song’s video.
The cinematic visual showcased TLC performing the track on what looks like the opening of a set. Amidst the big production of their stage show, an air of “cool” and simplicity exudes from the group, and it’s still as endearing today as it was during the 90s.
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Ironically, despite their high chart positions and big video budgets, TLC was in financial disarray at the time ‘Diggin” was released.
Hence, it would stand as their last musical output until colossal comeback ‘No Scrubs’ in 1999.
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Through the years, TLC has shown that they are well-versed in resilience. It’s beautiful seeing T-Boz and Chili keeping Left-Eye’s memory alive with their touring around the world.
We say the younger generation could learn a lot from a girl group that paved the way for so many acts; not only through their image and sound, but also their message and their values.
TLC, we appreciate you. We thank you.
Your thoughts?